Things to consider for overseas study

There are many things you should consider before deciding to study overseas. Enrolment, tuition costs and insurance are just a few of these.

Enrolment and tuition fees

When you participate in an outgoing exchange you remain enrolled at UQ in specific EXCH course codes. While on exchange you will be liable for tuition fees or student contributions (HECS) at UQ. While you will pay no tuition fees to your host university, some host institutions have a mandatory fee for Student Services and/or public transportation concessions. For further information on enrolment and tuition fees visit the UQ Abroad website.

Course changes

You may find, once you have arrived at the exchange institution, that you are unable to enrol in your chosen courses. The reasons for this are usually:

the pre-approved course is no longer offered

courses fill up and extra lectures are not created

the chosen course is not available to exchange students

there is a timetable clash

a different course looks more interesting

Try some of the helpful tips on the UQ Abroad website to see if you can negotiate your way into your original course selections. Should these fail you may need to have any new courses approved by the Faculty as a variation to your Study Plan. See below for what to do depending on the types of courses you need to study.

General electives

If you are taking approved courses towards the general elective component of your BEL degree program you may be eligible to enrol in many of the course/s at your host university. General electives are often the easiest to gain BEL Faculty approval for and will provide the most flexibility when it comes time to enrol in courses at the host university. However, you must still gain approval from the BEL Faculty in the form of a credit approval letter. You must also ensure that you are undertaking a full-time study load at your host institution.

Courses towards majors or specified credit

To seek Faculty approval for new courses please check the UQ Credit Precedent Database for preapproved courses and email your request to exchange@bel.uq.edu.au (and cc to uqabroad@uq.edu.au). If the new course/s do not appear on the database email (exchange@bel.uq.edu.au and cc uqabroad@uq.edu.au) the detailed course syllabus obtained directly from the host institution website. You will receive confirmation as soon as possible as to whether the course/s can be granted as credit towards your program at UQ. In your email please be clear that your request is for a revised Exchange Study Plan and notify us if there are deadlines that you must meet at your exchange institution. We will do our best to respond to you in time, and we expect that you will notify us of any course changes as soon as you are aware of them to avoid unnecessary delay.